Alex Eala bowed out in the round of 16 of the Hong Kong Open after falling to No. 3 seed Victoria Mboko of Canada, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, on Thursday.
Eala blew a 4-1 lead in the third set, as Mboko caught fire and won five straight games to advance to the quarterfinal against No.6 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.
The 19-year-old Mboko, currently the world No. 21 player with a Women’s Tennis Association 1000 title at home in the Canadian Open, admitted it was tough to beat her friend in front of the predominantly pro-Filipino crowd.
‘I wanna first congratulate Alex for an amazing match. It’s never easy to play one of your friends. And I’ve known her for such a long time, so that made it a little bit emotional,’ said Mboko.
‘I also wanna thank those who came to support today. I know that there’s so many Filipinos here to support Alex, and this is what this sports is all about. I love the support you came today and made the match more intense and super tough for me. I think I really had to fight for every single point. And I think it was an unbelievable match.’
In her final tournament of the season, the 20-year-old Alex absorbed her fifth three-set loss in her last six singles exits across Jingshan, Suzhou, Wuhan, Japan, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong.
Still, it was a breakthrough year for Eala, who climbed into the world’s top 75 after a dream semifinal run in the Miami Open and achieved a career-best ranking of No. 51.
Eala also competed in Grand Slams, including the Philippines’ first-ever US Open main draw win when she took down Clara Tauson in the first round and got her first WTA title in the Guadalajara 125 open.
Eala started strong in the first set, racing to a 3-0 lead before Mboko tied it at 3-all. The Rafa Nadal Academy product held her composure to take the set before the Canadian rallied back.
Earlier, Eala advanced to the round of 16 after Katie Boulter of the United Kingdom retired midway through the second set, 6-4, 2-1, on Tuesday evening.
On Monday, Eala also exited the Hong Kong Open doubles event after she and Hao-Ching Chan of Chinese Taipei fell to Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia and Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, 6-3, 1-6, 7-10.